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Workshop on Section 134 of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988

Jaipur, 22nd January, 2016

1. Background With regard to right to life and safety on roads of a citizen, it would perhaps be impossible to save any life in an air crash, but a large number of the road accident victims can be saved, if only receive succour immediately. Many of them don‟t, due to fear of police harassment and/or legalities. In the year 1985, Advocate Parmanand Katara brought a writ petition by way of public interest litigation before the Supreme Court of India. The petition said that Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees the Right to Life to every citizen, but in the matter of road accident victims nearly 60% die while awaiting treatment, even after having been brought to the hospital. These deaths take place as the doctors would not attend the victims until a police case is registered, as these are medico-legal cases. The Supreme Court in its division bench judgment delivered by Justice Ranganath Misra and

Justice G L Ojha on 28th

August, 89 ruled that every medical doctor is bound to save the life of an accident victim. “It is his supreme responsibility even if the victim is that of a criminal assault”, said the order.

2. Context

Following a Supreme Court order in 1989, the Motor Vehicle Act was amended as Section 134 in 1994, to make it mandatory on both the driver/owner of the vehicle to take the accident victim to the nearest doctor, but also casts a duty on the doctor to treat the victim without waiting for any formalities. A recent film “Munnabahai MBBS” depicted a hospital’s response to a suicide victim, where a helpless mother tried to convince a doctor to attend to his son’s serious injury, but was asked to complete the legal formalities by filling up a form first. Then, “Munnabhai” raised the question of importance of filling up form by an emergency patient before getting any immediate treatment with the Dean of the Medical College. Obviously, the Dean had no answer. Well, the difficulties faced by a suicide victim or any accident victim are similar, with road accident victim being no exception.

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A number of films and serials in the past as well as in the present are showing the tragedy of a road accident victim in one way or the other. What is more unfortunate is the fact that it is the fact that it happens in reality also. In our overcrowded cities, road accidents have taken the form of an epidemic. Every 04 minutes an Indian dies on the road and 10 times that number get injured. In such circumstances, the role of medical institutions becomes important, as the first few moments after the accident, termed as “Golden Hours,” are very precious and crucial. Many lives can be saved and providing immediate treatment to accident victims can prevent disabilities. But this happens rarely in reality, as “prompt” medical attention is available only to a “lucky” few.

One major reason for which hospitals/clinics/doctors refuse to treat accident cases is the potential medico-legal complications associated with such patients. In many cases, it has been observed that doctors wait for the arrival of police before attending accident victims. In such cases, the Supreme Court directives are very clear.

In the case of Pt. Parmanand Katara vs Union of India in 1989, the Supreme Court observed:

There are no provisions in the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, and Motor Vehicles Act, which prevents doctors from promptly attending to seriously injured persons and accident cases before arrival of the police. The treatment of the patient should not wait for the arrival of the police or completing legal formalities. All government hospitals and medical institutions should be asked to provide immediate medical aid to all the cases, whether medico-legal or not.

3. Present Scenario and Objectives

In spite of the provision under law, accident victims have to wait till the completion of procedural formalities before getting any immediate medical treatment during the “Golden Hour.” Since people do not have information on the same, they are ready to suffer.

Here comes the role of some of the very important stakeholder, who are part of our society

like the doctor’s fraternity, which includes medical associations; traffic police, entertainment industry, corporate houses and civil society organisation, which does play an important role in spreading any message. Unfortunately, these stakeholders continue to ignore the reality and continue to portray the unnecessary delay in providing immediate treatment to the accident victim because of legal formalities. It is high time, that all of us now start spreading the right message as said in the law and clears the confusion by creating awareness on the issue and making the concerned people more and more accountable, so that many valuable lives could be saved in case of an accident.

4. Workshop

Marking the commemoration of road safety week 2016, Department of Transport of Govt. of Rajasthan vide its work order no pa11/pari/prapa/sasus/2015/278-283 dated 13.01.2016 approved an activity for CUTS, which was initially an activity of Nukkad Natak, but CUTS decided to conduct this workshop in place of sanctioned activity with prior approval and permission of official of department.

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The workshop was organised on January 22, 2016 at Hotel Om Tower, Jaipur

5. Participants Transport Department, Government of Rajasthan supported to conduct the workshop, which provided platform for around 35 representatives of NGOs, Media, Medical Practitioner, Advocates, Traffic Police, Health Department and Academician to actively take part in the workshop.

6. Proceedings

The welcome speech was given by Varidhi Singh and followed up by introduction speech

about the workshop which given by Dharmendra Chaturvedi, he shared reasons why Section

134 is important and what are the main objectives of the workshop. As the Road-Safety week

was going on in India. The workshop

emphasized on Section 134 of Motor Vehicles

Act, 1988 and developments in law in this

regard with following objectives:

To raise and maintain public awareness

on Section 134.

To promote the development of Section

134.

To change the attitude and behaviours

of drivers.

Promote a positive attitude towards enforcement of Section 134.

Encourage the safe use of public roads.

Deepak Saxena discussed Section 134 through a

presentation. The key points of the presentation

were:

Importance of Section 134

Supreme Court Judgment given in case

of Advocate Parmanand Katara Versus

Union of India, AIR 1989 SC 2039. The

crux of the judgment: There can be no

second opinion that preservation of

human life is of paramount importance.

The patient whether he be a criminal

liable to punishment under the laws of

the society, it is the obligation of those

who are in charge of the health of the

community to preserve life so that the

innocent may be protected and the guilty

may be punished.

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Duty of driver/ in charge of vehicle.

Duty of Medical Practitioner: In cases of non-compliance.

Punishment: 3 months imprisonment or Rs.500 for the first offence or both or 6

months imprisonment or Rs. 1,000 for subsequent offence or both.

New Developments in Road Transport Safety and Good Samaritans Bill, 2014.

Dr. Maya Tandon from Sahayta was the Chief

Guest of the workshop. She has been working

for the Road-Safety from very long-time.

Tarachand Saharan Secretary of Sahayta further

discussed the topic through presentation

prepared by him. The bullet points in the

presentation were:

- Introduction and working of Sahayta

- Post-Accident Care

- Measures to decrease the number in the

victims of road accidents.

It was stated by him that one person in every

four minutes dies in India due to road

accident. And it is important to take measures

in order to decrease the number to zero.

A movie was showed on what to do after the

accident has occurred. In continuance with the

movie Dr. Kiran Tandon from Sahayta stated

that there are three important parts of the

body:

- Head/Brain: At the time of accident it

is necessary that oxygen is provided to brain within 3-4 minutes.

- Heart: Around 5 Litres of blood

circulates in our body. She

mentioned three situations in which

if the mentioned amount of blood is

lost it may result in following:

1) If around 1 ltr. is loss the person goes into

sleeping state where he/she is half conscious

and half-unconscious.

2) If 1.5 ltr. is loss the person faints.

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3) If 2.5 ltr. is loss

then the probability

of death increases.

- Spinal

Cord: In cases

where person’s

back is injured, he

shall be lifted

properly with due

care.

The Golden Hour

which is One Hour

after the Accident

which is very

important for the

injured person as

the First Aid

should be provided and the person shall be taken to the Hospital. It is not only that the person

is taken to the hospital within one hour but they should make sure that his treatment has been

started too.

Practical Demonstration on giving CPCR was also provided by the team of Sahayta.

Members from various organisations were called asked to try giving CPCR to the manikin.

The important thing to note while giving CPCR was to take care of the body posture and it

should be given with the strength and around hundred times without any break.

Vote of Thanks

Varidhi Singh, Project Officer gave vote of thanks

with an appeal to the entire stakeholder to impart

the message wider.

Dharmendra Chaturvedi also mentioned about

Grahak Suvidha Kendra (GSK). Leaflets of which

were distributed at the time of registration only.

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AGENDA

13:30:14:00 Registration

14:00-14:05 Welcome and Introduction

Dharmendra Chaturvedi, Project Officer, CUTS International

14:05-14:15 Presentation on Section 134 of MV Act

Deepak Saxena, Sr. Programme Coordinator, CUTS International

14:15-14:30 Movie on Post-Accident First Aid

14:30-16:00 Special Addresses by Subject Experts

Role of Civil Society Organisation (post-accident treatment)

Dr Maya Tandon, Chairperson, M N Tandon Charitable Trust,

Jaipur

Mr Tara Chand Saharan and Mr Ashish Sharma

Former Member, Board of Revenue for Rajasthan and

Secretary, Sahayta

16:00–16:30 Open Session Questions & Clarifications

16:30-16:35 Vote of Thanks

Varidhi Singh, Project Officer, CUTS

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FAQ on Section 134 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

Research shows that half of the accident victims can be saved if they receive immediate medical attention. However, due to fear of harassment people do not always come forward to attend them. Following a Supreme Court order in 1989, the Motor Vehicles Act was amended in 1994, to make it mandatory on both the driver/owner of the vehicle to take the accident victim to the nearest doctor, but also casts a duty on the doctor to treat the victim without waiting for any formalities. This FAQ has been created to help people understand the situation and inform others, so that we can save unnecessary deaths on our roads.

What is the duty of the driver of the vehicle involved in an accident? The driver or the owner of a vehicle involved in any accident that has caused injury or

damage to any person, is required to secure medical aid for the injured person, by taking him to the nearest doctor.

He shall report the matter to the nearest police station within 24 hours, and Also inform the insurance company about the occurrence of the accident, namely, insurance policy number and period of its validity; date, times and place of accident; particulars of the persons injured and/or killed in the accident; and name of the driver and particulars of his driving licence.

Is the duty of the driver mandated by any law? Yes! Section 134 of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988 states that the driver and/or the owner of the motor vehicle responsible for a road accident is required to take all reasonable steps to secure medical attention for the injured person by conveying him to the nearest medical practitioner or hospital, unless it is not practicable to do so on account of mob fury or any other reason beyond his control.

Is failure to comply with this act punishable? Yes! Under Section 187 of MV Act 1988, whoever fails to comply with the provisions of the clauses of Section 134, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine which may extend to Rs. 500, or with both. If it is the second time for the person concerned, then the penalty is harsher. The imprisonment may extend to 6 months, or with fine which may extend to Rs. 1000, or with both.

What is the duty of the doctor/hospital where a road accident victim is taken? The doctor/hospital approached to treat a road accident victim should render immediate necessary medical aid without waiting for any procedural formalities.

Does refusal of medical care to injury and emergency cases constitute negligence? Yes. Refusal of medical care to emergency cases constitutes negligence.

Can a doctor/hospital refuse medical care to emergency cases? No. A doctor/hospital cannot refuse medical care to emergency cases.

Can treating a road accident victim lead to the doctor/hospitals getting into any trouble? No. There are no provisions in the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Motor Vehicles Act, etc., which prevent doctors from promptly attending to accident cases before the arrival of the police. As per the Supreme Court‟s 1989 judgement, the police and court should not harass such doctors, and should also not be taken to the police station for

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investigations.

Should the doctors/hospitals wait for the police to arrive or any legal formalities before attending to a road accident victim? No. The treatment of the patient should not wait for the arrival of the police or completion of legal formalities. All hospitals and doctors are required to provide immediate medical aid to all the cases, whether medico-legal or not. Failure in this regard is punishable under Section 187 of MV Act, 1988.

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